I’m sure I speak for us all when I say sometimes you buy a product with the hope that you really hate it, so you can either prove people wrong when there is a huge buzz around it or because it’s so expensive that you never want to purchase it again!

I hate to even be admitting to this because it’s one of my closest friends who sells Younique, but as a blogger who has seen many products hyped up over the last 6 years I did really want to prove people wrong and find some fault with the products that I bought.

When you read up about Younique there is so much about “empowering woman” and network marketing which is what initially put me way off buying anything. That coupled with the numerous Facebook posts on buying/selling pages I’m in really turned me away from the products. Until Sophie started selling and as someone who is very close to me I trusted her views on the products and put in an order. They also don’t test on animals and helps those who have experienced sexual abuse as children - two really great points.

First up, my favourite product out of the two I have from Younique - the foundation. I’d read a fair bit around this product and asked for lots of different people’s opinions because let’s face it, the product is still £30. This may not be much for some people but it is for me, especially as I have been using a £10 foundation for a while. The general response that the foundation was one of the stand out products so I ordered one.

I was matched to the shade Velour just as a guess from the online descriptions and turns out it was a good guess - it’s my shade. (I’m a NW25 in Mac for reference.) The bottle is smaller than I imagined it would be, but maybe that’s wishful thinking to have a huge bottle of foundation for £30. I’ve seen loads of videos that are circulating on Facebook on how to apply the foundation, the claims that you can get a full face of makeup from just 5 “splodges” but I don’t agree with them. I have found that more dots of foundation around my face but less foundation in each dot works best for me. I use my Real Techniques expert face brush and I have found that whilst the brush still gets stained by the foundation there is very little product left in my brush.

For those who loved the Jemma Kidd foundation - this is almost the perfect dupe. I say almost down to the setting time of the foundation, it takes ages to dry! So much so that I’ve bought a setting powder and that’s something I haven’t used in years. Somehow Younique have made a foundation that doesn’t set for ages yet never seems to leave your face and that’s quite something considering the transfer I’ve had from this. For example, I can touch my face, get foundation all on my fingers and therefore on everything I touch - yet my face looks like nothing is missing. The second purchase I made from Younique is one of their lip stains. Long gone are the days where a lip stain is in the form of a nail polish style bottle or a really drying felt tip pen. This is just like a normal lipgloss applicator and I got the colour "sultry". I think it is pretty much a given that when I try a new lip product I always head to the red as a starting point and this didn't disappoint. Lasting all day, transferred to nothing and didn't bleed. My only gripe is how much this clings to the dry patches on my lips - but this serves as a reminder that I neglect my lips and I've actually started to use the blistex treatment a lot more.

At the risk of sounding like a news reporter "annnnnnd finally" we have the Urban Decay Naked 3 palette. This has been spoken about so much on blogs that I'm not going to add to it, because quite frankly - I'm lazy and this blog post is hard to write whilst crying watching Fast and Furious 7 - Paul Walker :(! Basically, it's as good as everyone says and yes, if you like rose gold - you will need it. Twitter | Facebook | Youtube| Blog Lovin | Instagram

It's been almost a year since I last rode a horse and I really miss it. I love the whole experience, from being around the horses (shock!) to cantering along without a care in the world. When I was younger I used to have lessons every Saturday morning on a mountain local to my childhood home. I remember learning how to trek, jump and canter all on this little grey horse called Teddy.

The dream was always to have my own small holding in my 20s where I could have a couple of horses, ducks, chickens, goats and donkeys. With big life decisions looming realistically there is no chance of this happening any time soon and whilst I was always aware owning horses came with a massive expense - I didn't quite realise to what extent until I was sent information over from Pet Plan.

A friend of mine owns a horse and recently I've noticed that she's having to do more to care for her because it's getting a little bit frosty around these parts now! There's been things from spending more on the care of her horse to extra visits!

The example I can always remember is when another friends Mum had said "You know I still have to go up the stables twice a day on Christmas day, it might be Christmas but the horse still needs feeding, mucking out and letting out in the field!"

Luckily, all I have had to do this winter is bring Bertie inside and put a little extra hay in the hutch and the cage, he currently likes to lie under the radiators as he roams free whenever we are in the flat.

After Basil costing me just short of £200 in vets bills over the last two months (he's fine now - but my bank balance isn't!) and he's smaller than one of these horses hoofs, I wouldn't even want to imagine how much a call out charge would be if these needed treatment. I've never insured the guinea pigs, purely because the monthly payments combined with the excess I would have to pay out anyway is much more than the charges at my local vets. The money I've recently paid out still is less than what I would have paid out in insurance over the last two years. However, I'm pretty sure insurance is needed much more for bigger animals.

Sundays are usually made for pjs and hot water bottles, but if I do have to head out to the shops or for a spot of lunch, this is a very typical outfit I would choose.

Black skinny jeans are a standard on almost any day of the week and any occasion for me. I feel more confident in them and they go with anything. I can’t believe there was ever a time where I reached for a pair of pale blue skinny jeans - not even sure if I own a pair anymore. These are ones from New Look, they are very similar to a Miss Selfridge pair but are about £25 cheaper!!

Shirts are probably my most owned item of clothing, I have so many and they range from the really smart for work, right through to the casual checked ones. This pale blue one, which I got for £4 in the Tesco sale, fits nicely in the middle of that criteria and I can wear it smart or casually.

No matter what jeans I buy, I always need a belt. To the point that now not wearing a belt seems just wrong. Usually I wear a selection of belts that used to be my Bampy’s, but just before Christmas this GANT belt arrived in the post and I’ve been wearing it ever since.

Ugg boots are my guilty pleasure and are always on my feet on the weekends when I’m not dog walking. In the past 9 years I’ve only had two pairs and in my experience are a great investment because they last well.

I feel naked without a watch on so it’s either my Michael Kors or my Bampy’s one he used to wear. I don’t really bother with rings or even earrings anymore!

Whilst on a recent shopping trip to Primark I spotted this in the cosmetics section. I wouldn't use this as a facial cleansing pad because that type of cleaning does not appeal to me, I'll stick to the muslin cloth for that task. However this has been a great addition to my brush cleaning.

I HATE spending time stood at the sink cleaning brushes and having to spend ages really cleaning deep into the centre of the brush. This only cost £1.50 but it's cut that time down so much that I don't mind cleaning brushes now.

You can get a really nice lather because of the bristles, but they are not too harsh on the brush itself - none of mine are damaged. In fact they are in better condition because they are cleaner. The handle makes it really easy to put on a finger and keeps your hands free from the soap and water which used to weaken my nails horribly.

Nothing really more to say on this, it's £1.50 and does the job of something much more expensive!

Since being a glasses wearing after finding reading more difficult than it should have been I was under the assumption for years that you bought your glasses at the same place you had your eye test and that was that. I was wrong and to be honest I'm a little bit annoyed at how stupid I was being as you can buy glasses in the supermarket!

After a recent check up at my opticians my prescription hadn't changed so I decided to look into what I can do. Specspost are very active on twitter and that's where I heard about them and the service they provide. Based in Manchester they are an online prescription glasses seller. There is a huge selection that you can view here and this includes sunglasses!

I picked out three styles similar in shape which is a style that I know suits my face and included a pair of sunglasses in there just for good measure.

Despite all the frames being in the same similar style I am used to, the first two just didn't suit me at all. The lenses were far too small for my face! I was a bit gutted because they are both really nice glasses, however as soon as I put the Fearne pair on - I knew these were the ones I was going to keep.

We all know I don't take good serious photos - so here is me being one of the new emojis on the iPhone update. I'm sending this pair back soon to have my prescription lenses put in the glasses and these will be replacing my actual Ray-Bans as my favourite pair of glasses. At only £32.99 I am kicking myself that I spent over £150 on a pair of Ray-Bans!!!

Despite being completely full up with a cold and almost not making it we spent New Years Day at Cheltenham Races. Six of us headed up on New Years Eve and had a brilliant meal at the Thai restaurant in the town. At eleven we wished each other Happy New Years and all headed back to our rooms to get some sleep before the big day at the races.

The race course is stunningly beautiful, the perfect mix of buildings and rolling greenery. We were lucky the rain stayed away for a fair majority of the day. Before the racing began we took a look around the winners parade, shops and the many statues commemorating horses that are no longer here. Around every corner we were thrashed with the wind. I think this was the coldest any of us had been in a long time but luckily I made an excellent choice in wearing my Target Dry Isabella Waterproof Padded Parka.*

We managed to get to the front of the barriers, right by the finish line and right by where the horses walked back to the yard. Being up close to them was just incredible, it's no secret that I love animals and being close enough to appreciate these absolute machines was breath taking. Naturally I had packed all of my cameras and even had one of our friends on hand to film with my go pro style camera! He's given the vlog some real good commentary!

Between races we headed around to the winners parade so I could get some close up photos of horses we could check out the horses after their race. This meant that we were back out in the open so I hooded up and I was as toasty as ever! This coat is brilliant at keeping me warm, it's thick and so cosy, yet I didn't feel out of place as it's still really smart. You can customise your look too, taking off the fur with poppers and changing how far forward the hood comes.

The rain started to pour down and it was freezing, whipping my face! The rest of my body was nice and dry though - the parka is fully waterproof. We all left on a pretty good high, I won about £50 which will be spent on the dogs naturally. I'd recommend this as a day out for grown ups, there was too many people struggling with pushchairs in the crowds and no matter where you moved you were always in someones way. This probably wasn't helped by all the rain as people were rushing to get a space inside.